Management Of Large Marine Ecosystems Research Articles

Combining electronic tag data and fish harvesters’ knowledge to identify ocean management concerns

Understanding the distribution and reproductive behavior of marine species can inform ocean spatial management to address conservation needs and reduce risks of conflicts among various marine and coastal industries. Combining spatial data on species behavior with fish harvesters’ knowledge can be particularly effective for identifying spatiotemporal overlaps between human activities and critical events at various life stages of marine species. In the present study, the migratory behavior of Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), a flatfish of great economic importance in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, was characterized using electronic tags, and potential ocean industry impacts to the halibut population were identified using fish harvesters’ knowledge reported at public meetings and during semi-structured interviews. Results from electronic tagging analyses, including potential seasonal migration paths and presumed spawning locations, were presented to halibut harvesters who responded by identifying industries that could impact the halibut population. Harvesters identified the potential for halibut bycatch in the developing redfish trawl fishery as the main risk to the current high halibut abundance levels, which they attributed to the reduction of Gulf trawling and halibut bycatch since the 1990s. Other potential impacts to halibut identified by harvesters included offshore oil and gas drilling, and effluent discharge from a paper mill transformation project. The present study demonstrates that utilizing complementary data from both fish tracking devices and fish harvesters’ knowledge can help identify and anticipate potential conflicts between fisheries and other ocean industries, and ultimately inform the ecosystem-based marine spatial management of large marine ecosystems.

Navigating the Complexity of Regional Ocean Governance Through the Large Marine Ecosystems Approach

Governance is a multifaceted and complex process, involving a wide range of stakeholders from numerous institutions and individuals with different interests, agendas and sets of skills. A number of barriers exist for states to work together on securing their shared coastal and marine ecosystems, with discussions often becoming clouded when disputes arise over Exclusive Economic Zones, borders, oil and gas resources, continental shelves, maritime transport, and fisheries. Over the last twenty-six years, the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) International Waters focal area has utilized the Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) approach to navigate the complex problems related to transboundary issues affecting the world’s marine ecosystems, of which forty-one out of sixty-six are shared (62%) by one or more countries. To overcome the disputes and assumptions about the intentions of neighboring states, the GEF developed the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis-Strategic Action Programme (TDA-SAP) assessment and strategic planning processes to help countries learn how to work together and build trust. This formal and inclusive process analyses all pertinent factual and scientific information to set priorities for action. This practical method for integrating science into management has provided an effective approach to inform and advance sustainable LME management and governance regimes; however, there is not a one size fits all approach. This review presents six examples from the GEF International Waters portfolio that demonstrate how the LME Approach and TDA-SAP process have helped countries find the best way to mainstream ecosystem-based management approaches into existing contexts and politics. While these examples span a wide range of different settings (geographic, political, socio-economic, temporal), they have all applied the LME Approach and TDA-SAP process to tackle complex regional ocean governance issues. Each example provides a historical perspective, the key results achieved, and their unique lessons learned/best practices. Furthermore, the review identifies some of the overall shortcomings of the process and the common lessons learned, underscoring the complex and daunting challenge of achieving effective governance for multi-country LMEs. The experience provided by these examples shows that practical ecosystem-based management of the ocean and its coasts not only requires flexibility and adaptability, but also time, associated long-term vision and commitment.

Large Marine Ecosystem: Analysis and Approach

A large marine ecosystem encompasses many resources and these are the areas with better primary productivity. Due to the increase of unsustainable marine practices, ignorance of the well being of marine organisms, and polluting of water bodies, the marine ecosystem requires extra measures. To provide aid to the countries and make a joint effort to protect their marine ecosystems, GEF was established. The work describes the comparative analysis and the process involved in large marine ecosystem management. It sheds light on the global environmental facility mode of operation and the factors required to attain the desired change. The paper focuses on management and diagnostic tools like strategic action planning and transboundary diagnostic analysis and how they are being applied using real-time examples. The measures countries are taking to achieve the desired change and the procedure to obtain financial help from various sources are also underlined. It augments the need for the large marine ecosystem and discusses various parts of the 5 modules. It discusses how GEF can contribute to the furtherance of the large marine ecosystem and provide guidance to the countries.

Planning and networking for ecosystem based management of large marine ecosystems

Planning and networking for ecosystem based management of large marine ecosystems

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission – UNESCO's support for management of Large Marine Ecosystems

Over the past two decades the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been a key actor in the global effort to promote sustainable use and management of Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs). Among the Commission's LME initiatives are a global comparative assessment of LMEs under the Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme and the LME: Learning Exchange and Resources Network project, both supported by the Global Environment Facility, and annual meetings of the LME Consultative Committee. A brief description of each of these initiatives is given in this commentary.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) perspectives on global large marine ecosystems movement

This commentary briefly reviews UNDP's nearly twenty year perspective on application of the Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) approach to marine ecosystem assessment, planning and management. It underscores the continued value of the LME modules, economic valuation of LMEs, and linking LME programs to subsidiary integrated coastal management and marine protected area programs. It also notes the importance of linking LME efforts with management efforts in both the high seas and with LME drainage basins. It emphasizes the need for continued efforts to engage the private sector as key stakeholders in LME management and increasing recognition of LMEs as vehicles to advance national and regional economic development. Lastly, it notes the sizable recent increase in attention to oceans in the global policy arena (Rio+20 Outcome, Global Ocean Commission Ocean SDG, etc.) and the associated opportunity to build on, scale up and replicate successful LME approaches and programs.

Toward ecosystem-based management (EBM) of the world׳s large marine ecosystems during climate change

The approach to the assessment and management of Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) has been the subject of a series of seminal symposia convened at the annual meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Since 1995, a five module approach to ecosystem-based management (EBM) of LMEs has been the focus of 110 economically developing countries around the globe engaged in 22 LMEs. A sum of $3.1 billion in financial assistance from the Global Environment Facility and the World Bank has been provided to support this global movement towards recovery and sustainability of LME goods and services in partnership with several OECD countries, five UN agencies, and two NGOs. LME stressors of prime concern are nutrient overenrichment and climate warming stress from projected levels of reduced primary productivity in LMEs located between 30°N and 30°S. Successful mitigation actions for reducing nutrient overenrichment in LMEs, and adaptive precautionary actions for protecting fish and fisheries in LMEs in the high-risk circumglobal belt are addressed. The paper concludes with comments on the unity of approach in the linking of science and policy in advancing toward sustainability of the world’s LMEs in accordance with Rio+20 goals.

Lessons learned from investing in marine and coastal management initiatives in the East Asian Seas

Abstract The concept that underlies the interventions of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) International Waters Program is adaptive management at the Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) scale across the sequence of interventions from assessment and analysis to development of regional strategic action programs and national implementation of action plans to address transboundary environmental concerns. The GEF has provided grants to recipient countries in the East Asian Seas region covering five LMEs since the early 1990s and amounting to about US$200 million. This paper analyses GEF support to the Seas of the East Asian Region to draw lessons for future investments in LME management. To identify investment gaps and the overarching drivers of environmental degradation across scales, transboundary diagnostic analysis of LMEs need to be linked to analysis of existing investment flows. Most funding for implementation of strategic action programs should be targeted at the national level, as interventions at this level are on average leveraging much more co-financing to GEF projects than regional interventions. Better coordination and agreed procedures and methodologies among different regional entities, programs and projects are necessary in regions, such as the EAS, with multiple regional initiatives at different scales. Better coordination of financial support to programs and projects operating at different scales would also strengthen the extent to which ecosystem-based management could be applied through better harmonization of management frameworks and tools for marine and coastal management from local to national to regional levels. Strategies towards achieving sustainable financing should be encouraged and implemented to ensure adaptive management and achievement of goals and targets under SAPs.

Marine biodiversity and resource management – what is the link?

Marine biodiversity refers to the variation of life at all levels and is much more than just a count of species. Marine biodiversity decline is occurring across the globe and is characterized not only by extinctions (sometimes local), but also by invasions and hybridizations, reductions in the abundance of some species, degradation of habitats and changes in ecosystem processes (e.g. cycling of water, nutrients and energy). The major threats and causes of marine diversity can be categorized as (i) unsustainable resource use, (ii) land-based impacts, (iii) coastal and marine pollution, (iv) introduced invasive species and (v) climate change. All these pose major risks in tropical seas where the high biodiversity in the past has allowed the tropical ecosystems to provide more services with less variability than more temperate systems. There is a strong link between better resource management and better biodiversity outcomes. With the introduction and acceptance of the concept of sustainable development, a way was opened up to ensure that human development did not impact irreversibly on the physical environment, thereby preserving biodiversity for future generation so that they could also enjoy the services that healthy ecosystems can provide. Along with the concept came a range of “approaches,” many of which developed in parallel by different sectors and disciplines. Because they were all developed to promote sustainable development there is considerable agreement on principles and management tools. This article proposes a course of action through an ecosystem approach for planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation that better integrates both ecosystem and sector management tools for more integrated management. There have been so many failures and biodiversity continues to decline. Several reasons for these failures are grouped under four pillars that are considered essential for successful resource management. These are: (i) enabling policy/legislative environment, (ii) good governance and institutions, (iii) full participation and (iv) adequate resources-people and finances to implement the management system. The use of large marine ecosystem management, exemplified by the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Project, is put forward as an approach that can address some of the issues that jeopardize success.

Tracking apex marine predator movements in a dynamic ocean

Pelagic marine predators face unprecedented challenges and uncertain futures. Overexploitation and climate variability impact the abundance and distribution of top predators in ocean ecosystems. Improved understanding of ecological patterns, evolutionary constraints and ecosystem function is critical for preventing extinctions, loss of biodiversity and disruption of ecosystem services. Recent advances in electronic tagging techniques have provided the capacity to observe the movements and long-distance migrations of animals in relation to ocean processes across a range of ecological scales. Tagging of Pacific Predators, a field programme of the Census of Marine Life, deployed 4,306 tags on 23 species in the North Pacific Ocean, resulting in a tracking data set of unprecedented scale and species diversity that covers 265,386 tracking days from 2000 to 2009. Here we report migration pathways, link ocean features to multispecies hotspots and illustrate niche partitioning within and among congener guilds. Our results indicate that the California Current large marine ecosystem and the North Pacific transition zone attract and retain a diverse assemblage of marine vertebrates. Within the California Current large marine ecosystem, several predator guilds seasonally undertake north-south migrations that may be driven by oceanic processes, species-specific thermal tolerances and shifts in prey distributions. We identify critical habitats across multinational boundaries and show that top predators exploit their environment in predictable ways, providing the foundation for spatial management of large marine ecosystems.

An Evaluation of the Modular Approach to the Assessment and Management of Large Marine Ecosystems

This contribution discusses the modular approach to the assessment and management of large marine ecosystems (LMEs). It addresses the contents and functions of the five modules; the key elements and processes of the transboundary diagnostic analysis (TDA), strategic action program (SAP), and national action plan (NAP) in the LME context; the principal common problems facing LMEs and their causes identified in TDAs and action plans formulated in SAPs, as the results of the practical application of the modular approach in LME projects. It also evaluates the significance of the modular approach for international ocean governance. It concludes that this integrated, ecosystem-based approach has rectified some deficiencies of the traditional sectoral approaches and has improved the understanding of LMEs and their management regimes. As a result the integrated, ecosystem-based approach is increasingly being endorsed in international governance of LMEs.­

The Gulf of Mexico: towards an integration of coastal management with large marine ecosystem management

This is the introductory paper to the special issue on Coastal Management in the Gulf of Mexico large marine ecosystem. The Gulf of Mexico is the largest open water body of internationally protected habitats in the Atlantic Ocean. It is a semi-enclosed sea and is the ninth largest body of water in the world. The Gulf region covers more than 1,942,500 km 2 including open water areas and coastal wetlands with input from 33 major river systems. There are 207 significant estuarine systems, and extensive barrier-islands with coastal lagoons, both in the United States and Mexico. The Gulf's drainage system covers more than 60% of the US and more than 40% of Mexico, with a coastline of 2934 km in the US and 3200 km—including the Caribbean littoral—in Mexico. The Exclusive Economic Zones of three countries, USA, Mexico and Cuba, converge in the Gulf. The Gulf constitutes a “Large Marine Ecosystem” LME that includes freshwater continental drainage from five countries. The Gulf is an international aquatic–terrestrial ecosystem and must be analyzed, protected and used in such a way as to optimize the economic and environmental returns from the exploitation of its resources. The 48 million people in the US and the 15 million people in Mexico who live in the coastal states require stronger cooperation. There is immediate need for cooperation regarding such issues as investment, tourism, agriculture, fishing, health and environment, education and culture, infrastructure, communications, financing, trade, institutional arrangements, and sustainable development. Many of these issues are geographic in nature, whereas some are tied not only to geography but the use of the body of water that links them. Thus, they are water dependent. The Gulf of Mexico is a shared resource at risk, with the following major problems: (a) freshwater use and shortage, (b) pollution, (c) habitat modification, (d) unsustainable exploitation of living resources, (e) global change (sea level rise, temperature increase and change in rainfall patterns), (f) public education, and (g) lack of political interest. However, no plan for the management of the Gulf of Mexico as a whole exists, and integrative studies are still scarce in spite of much study of ecosystems and resources. Because of this, there is a special need for attention to and reinforcement of integrative, collaborative efforts because the Gulf is a bi-national priority region and focus of attention at world level. Currents efforts include the Gulf of Mexico Program (US Environmental Protection Agency) and coastal initiatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the US, and the Management Program ICZM-Gulf/Caribbean (SEMARNAT, INECOL A.C.) in Mexico. The challenge for the future for coastal management in the Gulf of Mexico should be towards a combination of integrated coastal management with large marine ecosystem management.

A new imperative for improving management of large marine ecosystems

Continued over-fishing in the face of scientific warnings, fishing down food webs, destruction of habitat, and accelerated pollution loading—especially nitrogen export—have resulted in significant degradation to coastal and marine ecosystems of both rich and poor nations. Fragmentation among institutions, international agencies, and disciplines, lack of cooperation among nations sharing marine ecosystems, and weak national policies, legislation, and enforcement all contribute to the need for a new imperative for adopting ecosystem-based approaches to managing human activities in these systems in order to avoid serious social and economic disruption. The global environment facility (GEF) has been approached by developing countries in overwhelming numbers for assistance in securing the futures of their shared large marine ecosystems (LMEs). This paper describes GEF supported processes being used to assist them in adopting a science-driven, ecosystem-based approach to the management of human activities affecting coastal and marine ecosystems and linked freshwater basins. At risk are renewable goods and services valued at $10.6 trillion per year. A total of 10 LME projects involving 72 countries have been approved by the GEF Council, and another 7 LMEs involving 54 countries have GEF international waters projects under preparation. A five-module assessment and management methodology is being tested that moves the countries toward adopting practical joint governance institutions through place-based management. This LME approach engages stakeholders, fosters the participation of the science community, and leads to the development of adaptive management institutions. Comprehensive initiatives in four LMEs are described. The importance is underscored for establishing and coordinating partnerships between the North and South for specific LMEs and their linked watersheds. These coordinated North–South partnerships significantly augment catalytic interventions made by the GEF leading to reforms and investments that are helping make the transition to sustainable development.

Large marine ecosystems: analysis and management

This contribution articulates a series of research issues concerning the definition, study and management of Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) and of the fisheries resources therein. The 57 biochemical provinces of (1995, Progress in Oceanography 36) are suggested as standard for all global stratification of the world's oceans, because these Longhurst areas, contrary to traditionally defined LMEs, permit direct comparisons of results from different disciplines. Examples of such comparisons, emphasizing the competition between fisheries and marine mammals, are given for the Pacific Ocean. The case is made that methods exist for rigorous descriptions of the trophic fluxes prevailing in such ecosystems, and based thereon, for dynamic modelling of at least the first-order impact of fisheries on LMEs. Also, emphasis is given on the need to reconstruct the earlier, unexploited states of ecosystems so as to obtain baselines for correctly evaluating fisheries impacts, and to evaluate the benefits foregon...

Encyclopedia of environmental biology

LIST of ARTICLES: Acid Rain. Agriculture and Grazing on Arids Lands. Agroecology. Air Pollution and Forests. Antarctic Marine Food Webs. Aquatic Weeds. Arboreta. Artificial Habitats for Fish. Aspects of the Environmental Chemistry of Elements. Atmosphere-Terrestial Ecosystem Modeling. Atmospheric Ozone and the Biological Impact of Solar Ultraviolet Radiation. Bioregradation of Pollutants. Biodiversity. Biodiversity, Processes of Loss. Biodiversity, Economic Appraisal. Biodiversity, Values and Uses. Biogeochemical Cycles. Biogeochemistry. Biological Communities of Tropical Oceans. Biological Control. Biological Engineering for Sustainable Biomass Production. Biomass Burning. Biosphere Reserves. Bird Communities. Bog Ecology. Captive Breeding and Management of Endangered Species. Community Based Management of Common Property Resources. Conservation Agreements, International. Conservation Programs for Endangered Plant Species. Continental Shelf Ecosystems. Controlled Ecologies. Coral Reef Ecosystems. Deciduous Forests. Deforestation. Desertification: Causes and Processes. Deserts. Deserts, Australian. Diversity Crises in the Geologic Past. Duties to Endangered Species. Ecological Energetics of Ecosystems. Ecological Energetics of Terrestrial Vertebrates. Ecological Restoration. Ecology and Genetics of Virulence and Resistance. Ecology of Mutualism. Ecology of Size, Shape, And Age Structure in Animals. Ecology, Aggregate Variables. Ecophysiology. Ecosystem Integrity. Impact of Traditional Peoples. Ecotoxicology. Environmental Radioactivity and Radiation. Environmental Stress and Evolution. Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Concepts in Ecological Models. Eutrophication. Everglades, Human Transformations of a Dynamic Ecosystem. Evolution and Extinction. Evolutionary History of Biodiversity. Evolutionary Taxonomy Versus Cladism. Farming, Dry Land. Fire Ecology.Fish Conservation. Fish Ecology. Foraging Strategies. Foraging By Ungulate Herbivores. Forest Canopies. Forest Clear-Cutting, Soil Response. Forest Genetics. Forest Hydrology. Forest Insect Control. Forest Pathology. Forest Stand Regeneration, Natural and Artificial. Forests, Competition and Succession. Galapagos Islands. Gene Banks. Germplasm Conservation. Global Anthropogenic Influences. Global Carbon Cycle. Grassland Ecology. Great Plains, Climate Variability. Greenhouse Gases in the Earth's Atmosphere. Hydrologic Needs of Wetland Animals. Industrial Development, Arctic. Insect Demography. Insect Interactions with Trees. Intertidal Ecology. Introduced Species. Introduced Species, Zebra Mussels in North America. Invertebrates, Freshwater. Island Biogeography, Theory and Applications. Keystone Species. Krill, Antarctic. Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone. Landscape Ecology. Life Histories. Limnology, Inland Aquatic Ecosystems. Mammalian Reproductive Strategies, Biology of Infanticide. Management of Large Marine Ecosystems. Marine Biology, Human Impacts. Marine Biology, Human Impacts. Marine Microbial Ecology. Marine Productivity. Mass Extinction, Biotic and Abiotic. Modeling Forest Growth. Molecular Evolution. Nature Preserves. Nitrogen Cycle Interactions with Global Change Porcesses. Nitrous Oxide Budget. Northern Polar Ecosystems. Nutrient Cycling in Forests. Nutrient Cycling in Tropical Forests. Ocean Ecology. Packrat Middens, Archives of Desert Biotic History. Paleolimnology. Parasitism, Ecology. Park and Wilderness Management, Physiological Ecology of Forest Stands. Plant Conservation. Plant Ecophysiology. Plant Sources of Natural Drugs and Compounds. Plant-Animal Interactions. Plant and High CO2. Pollution Impacts on Marine Biology. Pollution of Urban Wet Weather Discharge. Population Regulation. Population Viability Analysis. Range Ecology and Grazing. Restoration Ecology. Rhizosphere Ecophysiology. River Ecology. Sahara. Sahel, West Africa. Seed Banks. Seed Dispersal, Germination and Flowering Strategies of Desert Plants. Sex Ratio. Shifting Cultivation. Soil Ecosystems. Soil Management in the Tropics. Speciation. Speciation and Adaptive Radiation. Species Diversity. Terrestrial Halophytes. Territoriality. Traditional Conservation Practices. Tragedy of the Commons. Tundra, Arctic and Sub-Arctic. Virgin Forests and Endangered Species, Northern Spotted Owl and Mt. Graham Red Sqirrel. Wastewater Treatment Biology. Wastewater Treatment for Inorganics. Water Quality Improvement Functions of Wetlands. Wetland Restoration and Creation. Wetlands Ecology. Wild Crops. Wildlife Management. Wildlife Radiotelemetry. Zoological Parks. Subject Index. Author Index.